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Newly caught sunfish floating- did I do this with my bungling?


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#1 Betta132

Betta132
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  • San Gabriel drainage area

Posted 06 March 2015 - 08:24 PM

Went fishing today and spent about an hour and a half hissing 'dammit!' as sunfish after sunfish either immediately spit the hook out or got away the second I tugged. I caught one green sunfish, five unidentified sunfish that flopped off in midair, and one male longear that I decided to keep. Unfortunately, I've apparently messed up the removal of a barb from this hook, and it took me several to get the hook out. Half-numb hands and tiny hooks don't mix. I finally got the hook out when I tried to cut the shaft and the hook somehow popped out from the pressure of the scissors.

The sunfish looks okay -color still there, breathing fairly normally, etc- but he's floating on his side when he stops trying to swim. He was swimming normally when I caught him, as far as I could tell. Now, I don't think he hit up against anything when I was getting him into my bag of water, and I didn't squeeze him. Could he have air caught in his mouth/gills due to my inept attempts at removing the hook? If not, what's wrong and how can I make it better?

I will add that this river is FULL of algae in spots and is listed as polluted. It's possible he has swim bladder issues from that, but all the sunfish I saw were swimming normally and could hover in place and stay upright. I don't think it's a major possibility.

 

On a side note, I won't be doing this again. I feel guilty. I'm going to catch the other longears for this tank another way...


Edited by Betta132, 06 March 2015 - 08:27 PM.


#2 Betta132

Betta132
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  • San Gabriel drainage area

Posted 06 March 2015 - 08:54 PM

Okay, this is weird... I just put him in the tank, and he now appears perfectly fine, aside from what seems to be a pattern of stress stripes. He's swimming just fine and has no difficulty staying down.

Was something in the bag doing that? Freshwater fish float like that when put in saltwater baths, but there wasn't any salt in the bag, just river water... could it have somehow had something to do with the bag being closed?



#3 Michael Wolfe

Michael Wolfe
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  • North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 06 March 2015 - 09:15 PM

Oh, so you are saying he was only doing that in the bag!  How big was the bag relative to the fish?  He may have been trying to orient himself so he didn't hit the sides.


Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

#4 Betta132

Betta132
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  • San Gabriel drainage area

Posted 06 March 2015 - 09:35 PM

It's a large Ziplock bag, and he was floating on his side every time he stopped swimming. It wasn't really helping him avoid the sides. He kept going upside down when he was trying to swim through the corners, too, it plainly wasn't intentional. Weirdly enough, he seems fine now, albeit freaked out.


Edited by Betta132, 06 March 2015 - 09:36 PM.


#5 Michael Wolfe

Michael Wolfe
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  • North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 06 March 2015 - 09:54 PM

I haven't see that with sunfish, but I have seen that with some Cyprinella that seem to want to play dead in a phototank.  They seem to react this way to being in a confined space.  As soon as I give them more space they are fine.  Maybe your sunfish was doing this.  I am glad you caught one and don't feel guilty... just get a bucket or something to transport fish.


Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

#6 Betta132

Betta132
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  • San Gabriel drainage area

Posted 06 March 2015 - 11:41 PM

I more feel guilty about the hook removal screwup than the bag thing... I'm going to see if I can catch baby sunfish in a net or something, maybe just by kicking the reeds a bit.

And the poor sunfish just had a panic attack when I walked into the room. I don't blame him.


Edited by Betta132, 06 March 2015 - 11:42 PM.


#7 Michael Wolfe

Michael Wolfe
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  • North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 06 March 2015 - 11:58 PM

They do take a bit to calm down... if you can provide them a planted tank with a place to hide it will make the transition easier.


Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

#8 Matt DeLaVega

Matt DeLaVega
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  • Ohio

Posted 07 March 2015 - 09:24 AM

Artificial baits make it easier to avoid deep hooking fish, if that was part of the problem. If using live bait or similar bait(corn) circle hooks almost always hook in the lip. For panfish, sometimes long shank hooks help. The long shank allows you to more easily grab the hook with pliers or forceps if it is swallowed deeply.

The member formerly known as Skipjack


#9 Betta132

Betta132
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  • San Gabriel drainage area

Posted 07 March 2015 - 11:57 AM

The hook was just in his mouth, the problem was more a combination of tiny barbed hook + half-numb fingers.  I thought I'd brought needle-nose pliers, but they weren't in my backpack.






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